Page 781 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

even if no one was violently destroying them. as it is, it is completely impossible when not only locks and padlocks but iron bars in windows are cut and pulled out.
all other and similar difficulties are well known from earlier reports and there is no reason to repeat them. There are no changes for the better.”92
The Year 1977
Bishop Pavle, by act No 8 from january 26, 1977, sent the Holy Synod of Bishops a copy of a petition sent to the Pres- ident of the Municipal assembly of Prizren, stating the fol- lowing:
“Yesterday, january 25, 1977, at about 5:30 p.m. i went to the post office to send a letter. When i was next to the ter- race of the Terande Hotel, a youth 15–16 years of age ran up to me, pulled me by the beard and shouted: “Priest!” in a moment i pushed him away and he ran into the hotel ter- race. i continued on but when i entered the post office build- ing, i felt someone hitting me on the back of the head. Turn- ing around, i saw the same youth running out of the post office building and crossing the street toward Bankos. There were several youths at the entrance to the post office but no one would tell me who was the youth.
it has become a regular occurrence when i am walking in the street for individual children and youth to call me jinx, calamity and with more serious derogatory words that i cannot repeat, and to periodically throw rocks and mud. Other priests are also complaining about this both in Priz- ren and the vicinity, and we cannot pass in peace, espe- cially down certain streets.
i wish to draw your attention, comrade President, and i ask that such actions, unbefitting for a citizen of this coun- try be prevented, and that peace and freedom of move- ment be ensured for us, too, like for every other citizen.
Petitions of the same content were sent to the Commis- sions for Relations with Religious Communities of the ex- ecutive Council of the Socialist autonomous Province of Kosovo and the executive Council of the assembly of the Socialist Republic of Serbia.
On February 8, 1977, the Holy Synod of Bishops acknowl- edged this information with regret and decided on its part to send a letter to the Commission for Relations with Reli- gious Communities of the executive Council of the as- sembly of SR Serbia to express its shock and great surprise at these occurrences. How could it be that in a country of law and order and a competent security service whose suc- cesses are praised in writing and speeches, members of the church could experience such a thing?
“at the same time, the Holy Synod of Bishops joined the request of His Grace Bishop Pavle that such occurrences be prevented, and that a peaceful life and freedom of move-
92 AHSB, Syn No 1249/1947.
ment be ensured for Serbian Orthodox bishops and priests, as it is for the other citizens of our country.”93
The Year 1978
On October 18, 1978, His Grace Bishop Pavle wrote (No 699) the SO Prizren the following:
at the beginning of the month of january 1973, we in- formed the Secretariat that unknown persons had broken down the door on the church of the monastery of St. Mark in the village of Kabaša, burned the iconostasis, icons, choir stand, crosses, vestments and other inventory in the church, bent the large iron candleholder and scattered the rem- nants of the burned books. We asked the Secretariat to undertake necessary measures so that now, in a time of peace, a halt is put the violence against this monastery, where the residents of the village of Kabaša in World War i and World War ii had destroyed all the living quarters and dam- aged the church, and after World War ii only the church was restored.
a year later (on january 25, 1974), we asked the Secre- tariat for a report on the results of the investigation. We received act KU No 151/73 from January 29, 1974, where it is said that all necessary measures have been undertaken to find the perpetrator of this action, and that the matter is still in process because the perpetrator has still not been found.
During the course of 1974 in the aforementioned church we repaired the iconostasis and instead of wooden doors installed iron ones, doing thus what was in our power to protect the church from possible forcible entry.
However, on October 16, 1978, we were informed that the iron doors on the church had been forced open, and inside the church the iconostasis completely destroyed and broken. The president of this Council, accompanied by one priest from Prizren and an Orthodox resident of the village of Koriša, went to the monastery of St. Mark and saw that the lock on the iron door was broken, the doors open, the iron bars on the southeast window bent and the wooden shutters broken, and the iconostasis completely destroyed and broken. Obviously the perpetrator was not looking for money or anything to steal but did this solely out of a de- sire to desecrate, damage and destroy. Certainly encour- aged by the fact that the guilty person was never discov- ered five years ago, he decided to complete the destruction to the end. We put another lock on the door and locked it, while everything inside has been left as we found it behind the perpetrator. The Secretariat can see this for itself on the scene.
it is our hope that the Secretariat will manage to find the perpetrators this time.
enclosure: Photograph of the interior of the church af- ter forcible entry, October 16, 1978.”
93 AHSB, Syn No 327/zap. 38/77.
The Suffering and Persecution in Kosovo and Metohija from 1945 to 2005
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